Book Recommendations For Women Who Read the Room: 15 Books for Every Mood
Book recommendations for women, when you’re feeling self-assured, silly, sexy, scholarly, or serene. Has your inner diva been lobbying for more airtime? Your fearless dial turned all the way up to ferocious? Or, maybe you have been riding a wave of calm—or very much want to be. Whatever your current inner state (or let’s be […]
Stroke Hits Women Hardest—Here’s What You Can Do About It
Your Age, Race, or Family History Isn’t the End of the Story. Here’s How Women Are Taking Back Control. Sandy Newby tried to speak, but she couldn’t get the words out. One minute she was standing in front of her kitchen counter doing art with her kids, and the next, she was trapped inside her […]
Stop Being So Damn Available: The Revolutionary Act of Going Quiet
When was the last time you went completely off the grid? Not the “let me check one more email” kind of quiet. I mean the real deal—phone off, door closed, world on mute. If you’re squirming just thinking about it, we need to talk about solitude. Society has programmed women to be perpetually available. The […]
10 Years Later: From Coma to Comeback
Today (April 18) is my 10-year anniversary. Not of my marriage nor of its demise after 37 years. Nor of my job—I ended that last October after 35 years at the same newspaper. I’d never thought of the day I almost died as the stuff of anniversary commemoration. But a week or two ago, the […]
Jennifer Jones Kicked Down the Door: The First Black Rockette on Dance, Resilience, and Making History
In 1987, the Rockettes had been high-kicking for audiences for more than six decades—without a single Black woman on the line. It wasn’t an oversight. It was policy, tradition, and intentional exclusion, all masked as a commitment to uniformity and “authenticity.” That changed when Jennifer Jones, the first Black Rockette, stepped onto the stage at […]
Menopause Is Having a Moment–So Why Are We Still So Confused?
When I went on Instagram this morning, I was literally bombarded with posts about menopause: Take the right menopause supplements (Brain fog? Hair loss? Low libido? There’s a supplement for that!), eat enough protein (but don’t forget the fiber!), do weight-bearing exercise (to prevent bone loss, duh!), get enough sleep (but make sure it’s quality […]
Surviving the Sandwich Generation: How to Be a Generational Translator
I am the bologna in the sandwich generation. Over half a century separates my children from my parents, and it’s an earth–shattering time period. A generation that lived through the draft, women being fired when they became pregnant, and telephone party lines is trying to communicate with a generation that lives with a gig economy, […]
How To Fall Asleep When Your Brain Won’t Shut Up
For a good lot of us, falling asleep as soon as our head hits the pillow is something we can only dream of. More often than not, the timeline looks something like this: 10 p.m. lights out, 10:01 p.m. a deluge of thoughts begin making their way to our consciousness. And anyone who’s been in […]
Spilling the Tea with ChatGPT: The Hidden Dangers of AI Chatbots
Generative AI chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Gemini, from Google, often make terrific virtual assistants. “Generative” means that the bots can construct responses based on the vast data they can access. In seconds, they whip up recipes using whatever’s about to go bad in our fridge, and we shoot back needless replies such as, […]
Thank You For Being a Friend
Picture it: Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, 1985 I’m 12 years old, having a weeklong sleepover at my grandmother’s apartment. Outside wild dogs bark all night long and there’s a very active crack house around the corner. (This was way before the yuppies gentrified the neighborhood.) Every night at 7:00 p.m., my grandmother puts on her pink […]
Addyi: The Little Pink Pill That Rekindled My Sex Drive
While Addyi (flibanserin) is a recognized treatment for hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) in premenopausal women, it’s NOT approved for use in postmenopausal women. This article discusses Addyi’s use in the context of premenopausal women. It’s essential to consult with a healthcare provider to explore appropriate treatment options tailored to individual needs and understand all […]
A Friendship Breakup That Began the Day We Met
Signs It’s Time to End a Friendship Five years ago, on one of our weekly hikes, I was eager to tell my close friend Annie* that my agent had found a publisher for my memoir. My first book was getting published—it was cause for celebration! But her reaction deflated me. “Memoir is a genre that’s […]
